Turkish Men Wear Skirts In The Streets & On Social Media For An Important & Inspiring Reason

Turkish men wearing skirts demonstrate in Istanbul, to support women's rights in memory of 20-year-old Ozgecan Aslan, who was murdered after she resisted an alleged attempted rape in the southern city of Mersin, on February 21, 2015. AFP PHOTO/BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)Source:
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

It
seems, then, that the brutal murder of 20-year-old psychology student Özgecan Aslan has acted as the straw that broke the camel’s back. On Feb. 11, Aslan
was traveling home in the coastal Mediterranean town of Mersin, when the
driver of the minivan in which she was riding attempted to rape her. Aslan
resisted, reportedly fending off her attacker with pepper spray. He then
stabbed her and beat her to death using an iron bar. Aslan’s burned body (her
hands cut off, according to Today’s
Zaman) was discovered in a river two days later.

Aslan
was laid to rest on Feb. 14. A 26-year-old man, Ahmet Suphi Altındöke, was
arrested after a lag of several days, and Turkey exploded: the violent crime
provoking an unprecedented wave of nationwide protests and virulent social media
campaigns hoping to shed light on the horrifying rates of gender-based violence
in the country. As TheGuardian
reported, the response initially began coagulating around the
hashtag #sendeanlat (meaning “tell your story”) — encouraging Turkey’s women
to share their own experiences of sexual assault and the insidious fear of potential
violence. Prominent novelist Elif Shafak took to TheGuardian instead, reminiscing
about her high school days, when she made sure to carry an open safety pin
in her hand, “to poke molesters with.”

After
the initial wave of women, Turkey’s men are now gallantly stepping up to the
plate. The hashtag #ozgecanicinminietekgiy (approximately, “wear a miniskirt
for Özgecan"), was introduced
from neighboring Azerbaijan on Wednesday, Buzzfeed reports, accompanied by photographs of men wearing
miniskirts and holding placards. The BBC quotes a statement made by proponents
on Facebook, which reads (with overtones of the controversial
Slut Walk movement): “If a miniskirt is responsible for everything, if
[wearing] a miniskirt means immorality and unchastity, if a woman who wears a
miniskirt is sending an invitation about what will happen to her, then we are
also sending an invitation!”

Upping
the stakes, a group of men took their new fashions to the streets on Saturday:
defiantly stalking
down Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue in miniskirts despite the wintry chill,
according to Today’s Zaman.

And it really is about time. Despite some political action on the issue, such as legislation passed in 2013 that increased protection for women in accordance with EU requirements, little has practically been done to stem the steady flow of rapes, assaults, and murders — many of which occur in a domestic setting. Moreover, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in power since 2003 as the Sunni leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has often made Turkish women fear a backward slide into inequality.

The
AKP lifted Turkey’s ban
on headscarves, which was put in place during the militantly secular rule
of Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Although this was an element of the party’s successful election platform in 2002, critics considered the move a significant threat to Turkey’s "secular" ideals. Moreover, as I explained in an article
for Guernica
last year, Erdoğan has consistently made inflammatory statements that indicate his retrograde attitude towards women, suggesting that motherhood is the feminine
ideal and abortion is equivalent to murder. He also, in a brilliant tactical
maneuver, told a room full of feminists that he did not believe in equality
between men and women. He outrageously repeated that sentiment shortly after winning the presidency last year (having held the post of Prime Minister for the preceding twelve years), during a speech at an international Women and Justice summit in Istanbul. Men and women can not be equal, he said, "because it goes against the laws of nature."

Even Erdoğan,
however, recognizes the necessity of a sympathetic response to this latest
outcry. In a speech from Ankara following the killing, the president referred
to violence
against women as the “bleeding wound” of Turkey, according to a Reuters
dispatch. It remains to be seen whether he or his government will take responsibility
for closing that wound, but it is encouraging to witness at least some of Turkey’s male
population expressing their support for gender equality in a campaign that
would undoubtedly make Emma “He
For She” Watson proud.